HortNZ supports new water storage plan
Horticulture New Zealand has welcomed the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s decision to advance plans for a new water storage facility on the Heretaunga Plains.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor wants the horticulture sector to look at developing the feijoa into a “fruit of the future”.
He says they are an amazing fruit Kiwis take for granted.
“Once a year, everyone picks them up off the ground, puts them in a plastic bag and shares them with friends and family,” O’Connor told the Horticulture Conference 2019 at Mystery Creek..
“Feijoas have huge potential. People say ‘they don’t last long so we can’t do anything with them’, but if we [started] varietal development and selection as they did with kiwifruit we could have another amazing export fruit.”
He suggests renaming feijoa as was done with Chinese gooseberries which became kiwifruit.
O’Connor says NZ has shown it can produce quality products in which people see health value and good eating.
“Among the many varieties must be some we can develop. I like them but I am not obsessed with them and just see this as a lost opportunity.”
O’Connor met a group of enthusiastic growers trying to form a cooperative but it didn’t go far enough.
Disease challenges exist but science could address those as for other fruits.
“We... need a development programme and hopefully would get a positive outcome,” he said.
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
OPINION: At last, a serious effort to better connect farmers and scientists.
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